sorting 223 and 5.56 brass ?

[rebs]

Do you guys sort your brass according to 223 or 5.56 and also according to brand for your reloading ?

I sort mine into lake city, winchester, remington etc and also sort the 223 from the 5.56, is it necessary ?

[zippy13]

All of my brass is from the same source. Typically we reload for economy and performance. With your wide variety of brass, record keeping must be a nightmare, or do you just have a "lowest common denominator" load.

[Adamantium]

I sort mine into crimped primer pocket and uncrimped primer pocket but after I remove the crimp they all go into the same pile.

The real question is do you put the same primer, powder load and bullet into all the different piles of brass you have? If you do that it doesn't really matter if you are sorting them.

[Marco Califo]

I sort between loaded and empty, which works fine if you have one source (1K+ mil once fired).

But as my collection has grown, I do keep certain categories:

1. Real deal mil LC once fireds. I can identify these by headstamp, all are within three specific consecutive years. I will load anything, including max loads after working up, in these. I am glad I got these "processed" from http://www.gibrass.com/ which includes fixing the primer pocket, but not sizing.

2. I picked up hundreds of free range desert fodder - LC but a different series of years and unknown history (scratched, scorched). I use these for lower than max target loads, and really should toss them after next use. But they cleaned up well. Others call this type "range brass" or "Any case, any primer" loads

3. Hornady, Fiocci, etc. That I bought new as loaded. I keep these separate because they are so clean. I will mix these at near max loads. I load these with max loads for Barnes copper bullets. I like these clean commercial cases for this because I need to carry them in the field in California.

4. Radway Green (UK mil) which I bought as loaded mil-surplus. I mix these into any other category to round out box-fulls. I remove the crimp when I process and clean.

5. Rejects: trash or scrap.

[rebs]

The most accurate load I have worked for my AR 15 is a Hornady fmjbt with 24.5 grains of H335 with a CCi #400 primer. I have loaded this in 5.56 lake city and 223 winchester cases since it is not a max load. SO far I have all my brass sorted but I am thinking it only needs to be sorted between 223 and 5.56.
I have this mix of brass because I bought 1200 from a guy and it was mixed lake city and winchester both were crimped. I also bought some Remington 223 and a couple 100 round boxes of American Eagle 223 which is not crimped.

[Marco Califo]

No difference between 5.56 and 223 in the brass
The chambers in the guns are different,
but the brass is exactly the same.
I use LC 5.56, re-sized brass and loaded in my 223.
Likewise I use the same reloaded ammo in 5.56 guns.
In fact, there is no such thing as 5.56 reloading dies,
Only 223!!

[jepp2]

I sort mine into lake city, winchester, remington etc and also sort the 223 from the 5.56, is it necessary ?

I depends on what you are loading for.

I sort by headstamp and year when I am swaging crimped primer pockets. The web thickness can vary and it makes for a better swage.

If I have a large number of cases, I will sort by headstamp into groups that I tend to load lots of the size of my normal loading lot.

If I am really going for accuracy, I will sort by weight within a headstamp of brass. Normally I can group by the lightest, the middle weights, and the heaviest cases and still have lots of the size I load for. Brass weight can vary significantly and sorting will improve consistency.

[Marco Califo]

Case Capacities by Manufacturer

[m&p45acp10+1]

I only separate out Norma, Lapua, and Hornady brass. All the other are in the same group. I load, and shoot them all the same. With my shooting it would be nearly impossible to tell which head stamp of brass I was using looking at the target.

[JimBobTX]

I separate by brand...then go from there is there are differences.